ASTRO 210: Black Holes in the Universe

Section 1, Spring 2013

 

Lecture:  Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Location: Rita Hollings Science Center, room 126 

Time:  MWF 2:00-2:50 pm

 

 

Instructor: Dr. George Chartas

Office: 129 RHSC

Office hours: MWF : 3:00 - 4:00 pm  

Phone: (843) 953-3609

Email: chartasg@cofc.edu

 

Schedule

The required textbook for the course is GravityŐs Fatal Attraction, Black Holes in the Universe Second Edition by Mitchell Begelman and Martin Rees. Recommended textbook for the course is Black Holes and Time Warps, EinsteinŐs Outrageous Legacy by Kip S. Thorne. Please let me know if you have a conflict with any of the test and final exam dates.

 

DATE

CHAPTER

ASSIGNMENTS

Lecture

9 Jan

Ch. 1 Gravity Triumphant

 

ch1.pdf

11 Jan

Ch. 1

 

 

14 Jan

Ch. 1

 

 

16 Jan

Ch. 2 Stars and Their Fates

 

ch2.pdf

18 Jan

Ch. 2

 

 

21 Jan

Martin Luther King Holiday observed -- No Classes

 

 

23 Jan

Ch. 2

 

 

25 Jan

Ch. 3 Black Holes in our Backyard

 

ch3.pdf

28 Jan

Ch. 3

 

 

30 Jan

Ch. 3

 

 

1 Feb

Ch. 4 Galaxies and Their Nuclei

 

ch4.pdf

4 Feb

Ch. 4

 

 

6 Feb

Ch. 4

 

 

8 Feb

Ch. 5 Quasars and Kin

 

ch5.pdf

11 Feb

Ch. 5

 

 

13 Feb

Ch. 5

 

 

15 Feb

Test 1, chapters 1-5

 

 

18 Feb

Ch. 6 Jets

 

ch6.pdf

20 Feb

Ch. 6

 

 

22 Feb

Ch. 6

 

 

25 Feb

Ch. 7 Blasts from the Past

 

ch7.pdf

27 Feb

Ch. 7

 

 

1 Mar

Ch. 7

 

 

4 Mar

Spring Break

 

 

6 Mar

Spring Break

 

 

8 Mar

Spring Break

 

 

11 Mar

Presentations I

 

Extreme Effects Near a Black Hole

Joshua Blackie and Zane Lycke

13 Mar

Ch. 8 Black Holes in Hibernation

 

ch8.pdf

15 Mar

Ch. 8

 

 

18 Mar

Presentations II

 

 Microquasars

Sean Cato and Samuel Cooper

20 Mar

Ch. 8

 

 

22 Mar

Test 2, chapters 6-8

 

 

25 Mar

Ch. 9 Cosmic Feedback

 

 ch9.pdf

27 Mar

Presentations III

 

Additional "large" or "small" dimensions to our Universe as possible explanations for the weakness of gravity and "theories of everything"

(with implications for microscopic black hole formation)

Daniel Barman , Sergio Hurtado, Maxwell Lynn

 

29 Mar

Ch. 9

 

 

1 Apr

Presentations IV

 

 

The Theory of Cosmological Natural

Selection

Joshua Watts, Cecillia Rogers, and Kara Perrino

3 Apr

Ch. 10 Checking up on Einstein

 

ch10.pdf

5 Apr

Ch. 10

 

 

8 Apr

Ch. 10

 

 

10 Apr

Presentations V

 

 

How things change as they approach the speed of light, and how space time shifts around a black hole.

Blake Hoffmeyer

 

(TBA)

Jennifer Blaine

12 Apr

Ch. 11 Through the Horizon

 

ch11.pdf

15 Apr

Ch. 11

 

 

17 Apr

Presentations VI

 

(TBA)

Jacob Jameson, Dominique Awis

19 Apr

Ch. 11

 

 

 

22 Apr

Presentation VII

 

Hawking Radiation and its Effects on the Life

Span of Black Holes

Kathleen Powell and Julia Margolis

24 Apr

Review

 

 

29 Apr

FINAL EXAM: Noon-3:00pm, rm 126